Kalamazoo, MI – July 15, 2022 – Landscape Forms, North America’s leading designer and manufacturer of high-design site furniture, structure, LED lighting, and accessories, is proud to introduce Backdrop, a system of modular panels and accessories. Offering a new and uniquely versatile way to create welcoming outdoor destinations, Backdrop is ideal for campuses, streetscapes, residential communities, and retail and hospitality locations. Backdrop is another innovative product of Landscape Forms’ collaboration with KEM STUDIO, a partnership that brought to market the acclaimed Upfit adaptive outdoor structure system. 

"Backdrop defines space in a way no one’s ever done before outdoors,” describes Landscape Forms Chief Creative Officer, Kirt Martin. “We call it Backdrop because the panel system itself doesn’t necessarily shout for the foreground attention," he continues. “But the environments it creates and the features it provides reconceptualize outdoor spaces in really beautiful and innovative ways.” 

 Thanks to Backdrop’s modular design and engineering, the system creates attractive, high-value destinations for privacy, rest, productivity, and social connection along the busy routes that people frequent most and in otherwise challenging or underutilized outdoor real estate.

Wall-height and bar-height panels in straight or L-shaped configurations, and two additional heights for glass (small and large), are the adaptable base units of Backdrop, offering virtually endless customizability in layout, functionality, and degree of enclosure. The panels are adjoined by posts and connectors that create two-way, three-way, or four-way junctions at 90 or 120 degrees. Backdrop’s integrated power garage posts offer convenient charging for mobile devices. Infill panels can be perforated, glass, planted greenscreen or louvered in vertical or horizontal orientations to enhance ambiance and visual transparency. Glass panels can be paired with the straight louvered panels to provide wind protection and privacy.  

"Sight lines are some of the most important aspects to the way people perceive space,” says Jonathon Kemnitzer, IDSA, co-founder and principal of KEM STUDIO. “So, while Backdrop is airy and open to the environment overhead, providing these boundaries thoughtfully and specifically on certain sight lines transforms the outdoor experience with senses of comfort, privacy and space definition.”

Accompanying Backdrop’s panels is a collection of accessories to truly tailor the configuration. Integrated peninsula or in-line tables in standing or dining height create comfortable spaces for a meal, work, or conversation. Wood or metal bar tops placed on bar-height panels create casual, two-sided seating. Configurable bike racks, coat racks, and shelving units offer convenient storage for personal items, and in-line provide additional seating.

About Landscape Forms

Landscape Forms is the industry leader in integrated collections of high-design site furniture, structures, accessories, and advanced LED lighting. Since its founding in 1969 Landscape Forms has earned a reputation for excellent design, high quality products and exceptional service. The company is headquartered in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and includes Kornegay Design, located in Phoenix, Arizona, and Loll Designs, in Duluth, Minnesota, in its family of brands.  It has sales representatives throughout North America, South America, the United Kingdom, Australia, the United Arab Emirates and Asia. Landscape Forms collaborates with renowned industrial designers and consultancies, landscape architects, and architects to design and develop integrated collections of products that address emerging needs and help create a sense of place. Additionally, the company has formed global marketing partnerships with select companies that share its commitment to design. Landscape Forms has an installed base of products around the world. Clients include municipalities, transit centers, corporate, college and health care campuses; and familiar brand leaders such as Harvard University, Linked In, New York Central Park Conservancy, Bryant Park, Google, Coca Cola, Oculus, U.S. Tennis Association (USTA), Nike, National Museum of African American History (Washington, D.C.), Barclays Center, Adidas, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Microsoft, and Uber. We’ve been named one of the Best Workplaces in Manufacturing & Production for 2020 and 2021 by Fortune magazine, Michigan Manufacturer of the Year for 2020 by the Michigan Manufacturers Association, and by 269 Magazine as one of Southwest Michigan’s Wonderful Workplaces.

About KEM STUDIO

KEM STUDIO was founded in 2004 by Jonathon Kemnitzer and Brad Satterwhite. The partners graduated from the University of Kansas, Jonathon with a degree in industrial design and Brad in architecture. After working in industrial design and architecture firms, the men met and created a studio based on “better design better living,” a philosophy that merged industrial design and architecture to approach projects more holistically. KEM STUDIO works with a variety of clients on diverse projects, from concepts with Airstream; residential, commercial and cultural architecture with public and private entities; and speakers and amplifiers for Martin Logan to furniture for Herman Miller; kayak helmets for Shred Ready; whiteboards for Ghent; and corporate spaces for Adobe. The firm has received numerous awards, including Good Design awards for product and architectural design, Best of NeoCon award, HiP honors, IDEA awards, and AIA awards. KEM STUDIO is based in Kansas City, Missouri.